Chapter 0999: Confession

"The Chinese temperament always tends toward compromise or mediation. For example, if a room is very dark and needs a window, the people working in that room often express their own views, each thinking they are right, so opening a window will certainly be troublesome.

At that point, if you say you want to tear off the roof, these people will come to mediate and choose a compromise: open a window."

Zhao Fusheng said with a smile, but the person he was addressing was not Fan Baobao, but Ye Jing.

It was almost New Year's. Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao were packing up to go home when they received a call from Ye Jing. The two met at a teahouse near the Central Academy of Drama.

"So, this is your solution?" Ye Jing looked at Zhao Fusheng and said with a smile.

Zhao Fusheng's face remained impassive. Unmoved by his words, he gave a faint smile but did not speak.

Whether Ye Jing had gotten wind of something or needed a favor, Zhao Fusheng felt that at this moment, he was much more stable than the other.

At the very least, he could write scripts, while Ye Jing had more problems to face.

"That's not my solution; it was said by Mr. Lu Xun." After a long pause, Zhao Fusheng smiled and said, "I've always thought that Mr. Lu Xun was a great thinker and philosopher. Many of his words are thought-provoking and enlightening."

"Mr. Lu sure has a lot to say..." Ye Jing curled his lips and said with a sneer.

He understood, of course, that Lu Xun didn't have that much time to say so many things. Most of his articles expressed his own feelings, and it was later generations who added so much literal meaning.

But that didn't stop Ye Jing from understanding Zhao Fusheng's thoughts.

In the end, Zhao Fusheng's plan was simple: the kid clearly wanted to put on a show of 'the willing victim' with those people.

"Are you so sure they'll take the bait?" Ye Jing frowned and said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "Brother Ye, do you think if money were placed in front of those people, they wouldn't pick it up?"

"Impossible!"

Ye Jing blurted out: "I don't know about others, but as far as I know, among the people I know, if there's money to be made, they'll do anything—even make soft-core porn."

So-called 'salty and wet films' were essentially movies with a bit of spice.

They were slightly more veiled than those Japanese adult videos, mostly walking the line.

Zhao Fusheng deeply agreed. He understood the nature of capital better. In later years, they would even openly promote bromance in TV dramas, let alone other things.

In the end, Zhao Fusheng always felt that sometimes people still need a bit of principle.

Whether it was being sentimental or putting on airs, the more unscrupulous a businessman, the easier it was for others to take advantage of him.

After all, flies don't bite seamless eggs. If a person had no desires, it was often hard for anyone to defeat him.

Having no desires makes one upright—that's not just a simple idiom.

"Are the people from Hong Kong reliable?" Ye Jing then thought of another key point and asked Zhao Fusheng seriously.

Over the years, with the deepening exchanges between the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, especially in cultural aspects, Ye Jing had learned quite a bit about Hong Kong's culture, particularly film and television. Overall, he didn't really like those people.

There was no helping it. Hong Kong people called mainlanders 'Ah Chan,' and mainlanders called them 'Hong Kong Chan.' They looked down on each other, a long-standing issue.

In the 1980s, there was a TV series in Hong Kong called 'The Story of Ah Chan,' about a mainlander named Ah Chan who came to Hong Kong, very naive and very 'socialist.' Since then, 'Ah Chan' became an adjective to describe mainlanders who were unsophisticated and always talked about ideology.

By the mid-to-late 1990s, with the Asian financial crisis and massive unemployment in Hong Kong, many Hong Kong people began moving north to work and live on the mainland after 1997, giving rise to the term 'Hong Kong Chan,' referring to those unfamiliar with mainland culture but trying to fit in.

Later, on the internet, it referred to people who grew up in Hong Kong, thought themselves well-versed in Chinese and Western knowledge and worldly-wise, but were actually shortsighted, endlessly nostalgic for the colonial era, yet feeling abandoned, disdainful of the mainland nouveau riche, while comforting themselves and feeling good about themselves. They even considered Hong Kong people superior to mainlanders and looked down on those who spoke Mandarin.

In short, at this time, Hong Kong people, especially Hong Kong filmmakers, didn't have a great reputation on the mainland.

No help for it—they always liked to put on airs and often cheated mainland investors. After being cheated many times, people naturally became wary.

"Reliable? Not really. Everyone's just trying to make money, using each other." Zhao Fusheng said indifferently.

That was the truth. In the end, he wanted to open up the market, while the other side wanted to enter the mainland to make money and establish connections with the mainland entertainment industry. Each took what they needed, tacitly understood.

No matter what, once everyone's interests aligned to some extent, there was a basis for sitting down and talking. It was the same with Ye Jing and Zhao Fusheng, except they were more adept at certain rules and cleverly kept things under the table.

"So, you want to bring me in?" Ye Jing pondered for a moment after hearing Zhao Fusheng's words and said to him.

Zhao Fusheng nodded and honestly said: "Future Films has funds, but in terms of promotion and distribution, you have more connections. Besides, we've always been partners, haven't we?"

After saying this, Zhao Fusheng gave Ye Jing a meaningful look and then fell silent.

Some things didn't need to be said too clearly. As long as Ye Jing kept a clear head, he should understand that cooperating with him was his best and only choice now.

That is, if he really wanted to make a living in the film and television circle.

Ye Jing also understood Zhao Fusheng's meaning, so he didn't answer immediately. Instead, he sat quietly, carefully weighing the pros and cons.

Overall, Ye Jing's problem was that he had mostly been a dabbler before. Although he was called a big shot in the Beijing circle, compared to those who either ran companies or were backed by a TV production center, his foundation was undoubtedly the shallowest.

But Ye Jing had his own advantage: his extensive network in the circle. That was why, even though Future Films and Ye Jing were both targeted and excluded in the circle, Ye Jing could still get good scripts and start projects.

However, Ye Jing was also worried about whether choosing to cooperate with Future Films would affect him.

That was exactly what he needed to weigh.

"Brother Ye, this doesn't seem like you."

Seeing Ye Jing silent, Zhao Fusheng spoke after a long while, with a hint of teasing in his tone: "The Ye Jing I know isn't so indecisive."

To be honest, his patience was running thin. Originally, Zhao Fusheng didn't want to involve Ye Jing. According to his plan, after he took out the scripts he had in mind, Future Films' problems could be solved following Bai Jie and others' plan. The rest was just about gathering popularity and signing good actors.

But when he discussed this plan with Jiang Wen, Jiang Wen advised Zhao Fusheng to bring Ye Jing along.

After all, Ye Jing's connections in the Beijing circle could be useful at critical moments, at least providing some room for easing tensions, so things wouldn't become too strained and embarrassing for everyone.

Zhao Fusheng really wanted to tell Jiang Wen that once NetEase revived through its gaming business and its stock price soared to seventy dollars per share, he wouldn't need to care about these people's face at all.

But he couldn't; it was his secret, not to be revealed yet.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng didn't plan to sell all his NetEase shares. Using them as collateral for loans was the most cost-effective. Selling them would be crazy.

No one except Zhao Fusheng knew how terrifying the future development of high-tech companies like Tencent and NetEase would be.

When NetEase's stock price rose to seventy dollars per share, many thought it had peaked, but fifteen years later, that price would more than quintuple.

That's right, nearly three hundred and fifty dollars per share.

As for that penguin, Zhao Fusheng remembered reading a news article saying that by 2013, when WeChat version 5.0 was released, Tencent's stock price had increased a hundredfold from its initial listing ten years earlier.

That is, if someone had invested one million in Tencent stock at its IPO and just held it, doing nothing, ten years later that one million would become one hundred million.

And now, there were less than four months until Tencent's IPO.

Zhao Fusheng suddenly felt that the day he would reach the peak of his life was getting closer.

But before that, he still followed Jiang Wen's advice. As Jiang Wen said, Ye Jing was a decent person. Giving him a hand wouldn't hurt, and it also meant finding a buffer and intermediary for himself in the Beijing circle.

Striking down opponents was never the goal of doing business; harmony brings wealth.

For Future Films to establish itself long-term in the domestic entertainment industry, showing muscle was necessary, but it didn't mean forcing all peers into opposition.

Although peers are rivals, if they became like rats crossing the street, with everyone shouting to beat them, Zhao Fusheng doubted he could turn things around, even if he were rich. If money could change everything, wouldn't Da Tian Tian have won an Oscar long ago?